Will Banning Size Zero Models Make Us Fatter?

After years of critics and doctors bemoaning the use of extremely thin models and imploring designers to stop using them, it seems like the fashion industry is finally starting to listen, with many designers banning size zero girls from runway shows. However, a really weird new study suggests that maybe we were too quick to assume the proliferation of unnaturally thin models was a bad thing. The report actually endorses the use of size zeros and warns that policies banning them will ultimately worsen the obesity epidemics in America and the U.K.

Yes, you read that correctly.

Actual academic researchers with the prefix "Dr." attached to their names argue, based on real findings, that increasing the minimum size of runway models will change what people see as ideal and, as a result, lower their incentive to lose weight. They claim that social pressure to be thin and the idealization of extreme thinness, no matter how unnatural, is a good thing, despite the fact that most critics and physicians have always argued that it's actually a bad thing that leads to poor body image and eating disorders.

The thing is, it's not like designers are going to start sending morbidly obese people down runways and calling that an ideal. If size zeros are banned, there will still be plenty of twos and fours for us to aspire to. Also, the overall logic of Dragone and Savorelli's findings just seems a little backwards. Over the past few decades, models have gotten thinner and Americans have gotten fatter. Clearly, obesity is able to exist even when unrealistic ideals are promoted.

Does this sound crazy to you, or do you think we need to see zeros to keep our weight in check?

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